1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to natural interaction systems. More particularly this invention relates to adaptive reality augmentation and 3-dimensional input interfaces.
2. Description of the Related Art
Natural user interfaces are gaining momentum in the entertainment and computer industry. Gesture controls are supplementing or replacing more conventional and less natural interfaces such as keyboard and mouse, game controller, and remote control. The user interactions, however, continue to relate largely to the computer monitor, thus limiting applicability and ease of use of such interfaces. Some of the gesture controls rely on optical 3-dimensional mapping.
Various methods are known in the art for optical 3-D mapping, i.e., generating a 3-dimensional profile of the surface of an object by processing an optical image of the object. This sort of profile is also referred to as a depth map or depth image, and 3-D mapping is also referred to as depth mapping.
Some methods are based on projecting a laser speckle pattern onto the object, and then analyzing an image of the pattern on the object. For example, PCT International Publication WO 2007/043036, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, describes a system and method for object reconstruction in which a coherent light source and a generator of a random speckle pattern project onto the object a coherent random speckle pattern. An imaging unit detects the light response of the illuminated region and generates image data. Shifts of the pattern in the image of the object relative to a reference image of the pattern are used in real time reconstruction of a 3-D map of the object. Further methods for 3-D mapping using speckle patterns are described, for example, in PCT International Publication WO 2007/105205, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference.